Nut

Nut, in popular language, is the name given to all those fruits which have the seed enclosed in a bony, woody, or leathery pericarp, not opening when ripe. Amongst the best-known and most valuable nuts are the Hazel-nut, Brazil-nut, Walnut, Chestnut, and Cocoa-nut, all of which are edible. Other nuts are used in medicine and for purposes connected with the arts. Some of the edible nuts abound in a bland oil, which is used for various purposes.—In Botany the term nut (nux) is used to designate a one-celled fruit, with a hardened pericarp, containing, when mature, only one seed. The Achene (q.v.) was by the older botanists generally included in this term. Some of the fruits to which it is popularly applied scarcely deserve to be so called. The hazel-nut is an excellent example of the true nut of botanists.—The name nut, without distinctive prefix, is popularly given in Britain to the hazel-nut, but in many parts of Europe to the walnut. Many nuts have a considerable commercial value, from their being favourite articles of food: these are the Hazel-nut and its varieties, the Black Spanish, the Barcelona, the Smyrna, the Jerusalem filbert, and the common filbert; the Walnut, Chestnut, Hickory, and Pecan; the Souari, the Cocoa or Coker nuts, and the Brazil or Para nut. For the Pea-nut, see GROUND-NUT.